women

On this week's Intersection, the focus is on women and film. Did you know that just a small percentage of the movies you see in theaters are directed by women? Today on Intersection, we’re talking about why with Kerri Yost, the Director of Programming for the Citizen Jane Film Festival, which comes to Columbia each year to highlight movies directed by women. We also talk with director Mo Scarpelli, an MU grad whose film Frame by Frame was shown at this year’s festival in October.

It’s generally known that women tend to live longer than men. But what’s less known is how the same longevity can be a financial burden for women.

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Last month, the Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the MU Institute of Public Policy released a report called Status of Women in Missouri. According to the report, women make up two-thirds of the Missourians aged 65 and older who are living in poverty.

“Their lives are much longer but then you couple that with the pay gap,” said Wendy Doyle, President and CEO of the Women's Foundation.

Many girls are beginning puberty at an early age, developing breasts sooner than girls of previous generations. But the physical changes don't mean the modern girls' emotional and intellectual development is keeping pace.

Two doctors have written a book called The New Puberty that looks at the percentage of girls who are going through early puberty, the environmental, biological and socioeconomic factors that influence when puberty begins, and whether early puberty is linked with an increased risk of breast cancer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently accepting claims from female and Hispanic farmers who believe the agency discriminated against them in farm loan or loan servicing programs. The claims process is complex—but the payouts could be large.

After the courts rejected a class action lawsuit from the farmers, USDA agreed to a voluntary settlement process with women and Latinos.

Claimants must submit a 16-page claims package plus additional evidence, and then a third-party will review and determine eligibility.

With the election in the rearview mirror, the national parties have spent the last week poring through the results and voter demographic data. Turns out women, young people and Latino voters matter a lot in a presidential race.

Here in Missouri, the results for the U.S. Senate race displayed some similarities.

According to a Rutgers University study, during every Presidential election since 1964, more women have turned out to vote than men. That proportion has been increasing significantly in the last few elections, in 2008, almost 10 million more women voted than men, out of about 130 million votes cast.